Photo: Bewickswan/Shutterstock

England to Create More National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

England Sustainability News National Parks
by Eben Diskin Nov 23, 2020

As part of the British government’s 25-year Environment Plan, more of England’s natural landscapes will be turned into national parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, a recent UK government press release explained.

Currently the country has 10 national parks (Broads, Dartmoor, Exmoor, Lake District, New Forest, Northumberland, North York Moors, Peak District, South Downs, Yorkshire Dales) and 34 Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. By creating more national parks and AONBs, the government is inching closer to its ultimate goal to protect 30 percent of all UK land by 2030.

The point of the Environment Plan is to make nature more accessible for local communities and protect wildlife and biodiversity. Thanks to this initiative, a range of projects are also slated to receive funding to improve natural environments across the country, and create thousands of jobs in the process related to habitat restoration, habitat clean-up, and woodland creation.

Over the next four years, 10 Landscape Recovery Projects will be launched across England to restore damaged habitats such as peatlands and wetlands. Ultimately, these projects will restore over 30,000 soccer fields worth of wildlife habitat.

Discover Matador